The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-03-24
.TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Pungent Sermon With q Sting
Ing Subject.
The Hornet as Typical of the Small Annoy
ances OF INSTRUMENTATION For the
Overworked-The Improvement
OF Adverse Influences.

Rev. T. Do Witt Talmage chose for the
subject Of a recent sermon in Brooklyn
Tabernacle "Stinging Annoyances,"
which he illustrated from the text:
The Lord. thy God, will send the hornet
Deut. vii, -
He said: II seems az il the insect world
were determined TO war against the hui
man race. 1t is every year attacking the
grain fields, and the orchards, and the
vineyards The Colorado beetle, the Ne
braska grasshopper, the New Jersey To-
Gust, the universal potato destroyer, seem
TO carry on the work which was begun
ages ago when the insects buzzed out Of
Noah's ark as the door was opened.
In my text the hornet flies out on its
mission. II is a species of wasp, swift in
its motion and violent in its sting. Its
touch is torture to man or beast We
have all seen the cattle run believing
from the cut of its lancet. In boy
hood we used to stand cautiously looking
at the glObular nest hung from the tree
branch, and while we were looking at the
wonderful pasteboard covering we were
struck with something that sent us
shrieking away. The hornet goes In
swarms. 1t has captains over hundreds,
and twenty of them attacking one man
VIII produce certain death. The Persians
attempted to conquer Christian city,
but the elephants and the beasts on which
the Persians rode were assaulted by the
hornet, so that the whole army was
broken up and the besieged city was
rescued This burning and noxious IN
sect stung out the Hittites and Canaanites
from their country. What the cleaning
sword and chariot of war could not accom-
liSh Ann.a h,rt h., - ~,
sect. The Lord sent the hornet.
My friends, when we arc assaulted by
behemoths of trouble great behemoths of
trouble-we become chivalric, and we as
sault them we get on the high mettled
steCd of our courage, and make a cavalry
charge at them, and if God be with US,
we come out stronger and better than
whom we went in. But, alas for these in
sectilc annoyances of life@these foes too
small to shOot-these things without any
avoirdupOis weight-the gnats, and the
midgcs, and the flies, and the wasps, and
the hornets In other words it is the
singing annoyances of our life which
drive us out and use up. Into the best
conditioned life. for some grand and glO-
rious purpose, God sends the hornet.
l remark in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come in
the shape Of sensitive nervous organiza.
ton. People who are Frustrated under
typhoid fever or with broken bones get
plenty OF sympathy. but who pities any
body who is nervous, The doctors say,
and the family says, and every body says
''Oh. she's only little nervous; that's
all"
The sound of q heavy foot. the harsh
clearing of throat, discord in music a
want of harmony between the shawl and
the glove on the same person, a curt an
swer, passing slight, the wind from the
east, any one of ten thousand annoyances,
opens the door for the hornet.
The fact is. that the vast ma jority of the
people in this country are overworked,
and their nerves are the first to give out
A great multitude are under the strain of
Leyden, who, when he was told by his
physician that if he did not stop working
While he was in such poor physical health
he would die, responded:
Doctor whether | live or die, the
wheel must keep going around
These persons of whom | speak have
bleeding constituencies The flies love to
light on anything raw, and these people
are like the Canaanites spoken of in the
text or in the ConteXt--they have n very
thin covering and are vulnerable at all
points. And the Lord sent the hornet
Again, these small insect annovancas
may come to us in the shape Of friends
and acQuaintances who are always saying
disagreeabe things. There are some
people you can not be with for half an
hour but you feel cfeereu and comforted
Then there are other people who can not
be with you for five minutes before you
feel miserable. They do not mean to dis
turb you, but they sting you to the bone
They gather up all the yarn which the
gossips spin and peldle it. They gather
up all the adverse criticisms about your
person, about your business, about your
home, about your church, and they make
your ear the funnel into which they pour
it. They laugh heartily when they tell
you, as though it We're god joke, and
you laugh toO-outside.
These people are brought to our atten-
ton in the Bible. in the Book of Ruth:
Naomi went forth beau tiful and with the
finest of worldly prospects into another
land, but after awhile she came back
widowed, and sick, and poo What did
her friends do when size cam back to the
city! They all went out, AMI, instead of
giving her common sense consolation,
what did they do! Read the book of Ruth
and find out. They threw Up their hands
and said:
rs this Naom!'
AS much as to say:
How very bad YOU lookw
When l entered the ministry | looked
very pale for years, and every year, for
four or five years. a hundred times year.
| was asked if | was not in a consump-
ton; and passing through the room l
would sometimes hear people sigh and
cry:
''A-ah not long for this worldr
Iresolved in those times that | never. in
any conversation, would say any thing de-
pressing, and by the help of God have
kept the resolution. These people of whom
speak reap and bind in the great harvest
field of Encouragement Some days you
greet them with hilarious Good morn
ing" and they come buzzing at you with
some depressing information. The Lord
sent the hornet.
1t is astonishing how some people prefer
to write and to say disagreeable things.
That was the case when years ago Henry
NJ. Stanley returned after his magnificent
exploit of finding DR.. David Livingstone,
and when Mr.. Stanlqy stood before
the savants of Europe, and many
of the small critics of the day, under
pretense of getting geographical in
formation, put to him most insolent ques
tions, he folded his arms and refused tC
answer At the very time when you
would suppose all decent men would have
applauded the heroism of the man, there
were those TO hiss. The Lord sent the
hornet.
And when afterward that man sat down
on the western coast of Africa, sick and